Manchester Food and Drink Festival will celebrate its 25th year in the city this September with a special roster of events, bringing together some of Manchester’s top chefs as it marks a quarter of a century in the city.
From a host of live fire pit feasts to a dedicated wine and fizz festival at NOMA, there are some exciting events on the horizon for this year’s festival, which will take place this September.
Today, the festival has announced its first wave of events as it prepares to bring its free-to-attend Festival Hub back to Cathedral Gardens.
Image: Supplied
Open from midday to 11.00pm across 15t–18 and 21–25 September, the Festival Hub will become home to an array of street food traders, bars, and artisan producers, as well as various masterclasses and takeovers.
As ever, the festival will bring together some of Manchester’s top eateries with appearances already confirmed from the likes of Michelin-trained Caroline Martins (The Sao Paulo Project), Northern Quarter favourite District, Tast, Mi and Pho, Fazenda, DGHNT and more.
ADVERTISEMENT
Elsewhere, there will be an artisan market overflowing with local produce, and a wide selection of local street food traders showcasing the best that Manchester has to offer.
BBQ fire pit feasts
The first ever Festival Fire Pit Takeover will be coming to the Hub for both long weekends.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sponsored by Weber, one of the world’s leading barbecue specialists, the Festival Fire Pit will invite some of the region’s best loved chefs to cook over fire for a first time festival feast.
Caroline Martins, founder of the Sao Paolo project, Robert Owen Brown and Francisco Martinez from Fazenda will all be bringing their own specialist BBQ flavours to the fire pit as part of Weber’s takeover.
The Festival Hub at Cathedral Garden will host the Octopus Cookbook Confidential demo kitchen on Saturday 24th September in collaboration with Octopus Books.
Top chefs and industry experts will be coming together to share their tips, ideas and knowledge in cookery demos, conversations and debate discussions. A full day of foodie demos and panels will include:
● Kate Humble & Lia Leendertz: The joy of the outdoors – Eating & Cooking with the Seasons
● Edd Kimber: Pudding Love! – discussing our love of puddings from childhood to becoming professionals and everything in between
● Pip Payne & Nicky Corbishley: Tips, ideas and hacks for putting dinner on the table every night without breaking the bank
ADVERTISEMENT
● Joe Woodhouse, Josh Katz & David Bez: From the swede to the courgette – why we should all be eating more veg and all the veggie inspiration you could hope for
● Jeremy Pang: School of Wok Chinese Cooking Demo
● Rahul Mandal: The Baking Surgery
● Jaega Wise vs Joel Harrison in conversation with Neil Ridley: Beer vs Cocktails
Some of Manchester’s best-loved chefs will also be joining the Festival Hub to lead cooking masterclasses on the opening weekend of the Festival – a detailed programme will be announced soon!
ADVERTISEMENT
Image: MFDF
Artisan food market
The much-anticipated Artisan Food Market will take place across the duration of the Festival, opening 15–18 and 22–25 September from midday to 7pm.
This free-to-attend market will showcase some of Manchester’s best food and drink producers, including New Market Dairy, The Flat Baker and DGHNT.
Beyond the Festival Hub
Away from the festival hub, an array of activities will be taking place across Manchester city centre.
MFDF will be the first event to take place at the iconic New Century in Manchester’s NOMA district to bring the Wine and Fizz Festival to town.
Opening in September, the Wine and Fizz Festival will be the first event to take place in the newly-restored space, giving wine lovers the chance to visit retailers like Cork of the North, Grape to Grain and UKiYO Republic (showcasing their wonderful range of Japanese sake). Tickets are available to buy here.
ADVERTISEMENT
Image: MFDF
Across the city for the duration of the festival, MFDF is also curating a lineup of fantastic restaurants to take part in their £25 for 25 years menu collaboration.
Northern Quarter favourite District will be creating an exclusive £25 drinks pairing menu to compliment their amazing Thai cuisine and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Manchester Food and Drink Festival.
Embankment Kitchen is also creating an exclusive £25 menu to give diners a taste of the best of their offering at a reduced price.
Other restaurants taking part include Mi and Pho with a Vietnamese take on the exclusive menu offer, as well as Three Little Words, Shoryu Ramen, Tast and Society, with many more to be announced over the coming weeks.
Feature image – MFDF
News
Middleton to receive a cinema and Metrolink as part of regeneration plans
Thomas Melia
Greater Manchester town Middleton is about to undergo a huge facelift thanks to a new regeneration project, including a new cinema and Metrolink tram station.
Middleton is one of many bustling communities that make up the borough of Rochdale, and with these new plans, the town might receive a fair few new visitors who want to know what it’s all about.
The Greater Manchester town is undergoing a huge transformation with regeneration plans confirming that Middleton will receive a brand new cinema complex along with an extended Metrolink line as part of the Bee Network expansion covering this area.
This is all thanks to Middleton teaming up with the Mayor to launch the Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), which pushes forward regeneration plans for the town and future ideas.
Middleton Shopping Centre right in the heart of the town centre.Middleton Town Centre bustling as the markets take place.Credit: Steven Haslington (via Geograph)/@Rept0n1x (via Flickr)
The MDC considers lots of aspects of the town and even aims to create new homes and improve surrounding public spaces.
Middleton regeneration plans have been floated previously, but complications arose due to a lack of land and available funding, which ultimately brought these foundations to a halt.
Now it seems the green light has been lifted and Middleton is about to get a whole new facelift, which will not only improve the town economically but aesthetically too, along with the wider Rochdale region.
For many Middletonians, the idea of a cinema may have felt like a distant memory, with their last big screen location shutting down just over a decade ago.
This all-new high street regeneration will not only bring an array of shopping favourites back to the town centre but also the long-awaited return of a local cinema. Most importantly, the plans also include a slate of new housing, with an estimated 300 apartments set to be created in one building alone.
Early CGIs of the proposed Middleton regeneration plans.Grade II-listed Warwick Mill looks set to be turned into flats.Credit: Publicity Picture (supplied)
This all falls in line with the ‘Atom Valley scheme‘, which has been commissioned in order to generate over 20,000 job opportunities for people in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale.
The scheme also mentions how it aims to bring a combined economic boost of around £1 billion to these previously mentioned areas.
Rochdale Borough Council leader, Neil Emmott, said: “The development of 1.2 million square metres of employment space around the junction 19 area will help to generate 20,000 high-quality jobs and bring a £1 billion economic boost.”
Featured Image — Publicity Pictures (supplied via Rochdale Borough Council)
News
Scouting For Girls announce stacked UK tour with Manchester date
Thomas Melia
British boyband Scouting For Girls are heading out on an extensive UK tour with dates up and down the country, including right here in Manchester.
If the first thing that pops into your mind when you read this headline is “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know how we’ll make it through this”, then you’re on the right side of history.
Nearly 20 years since their single ‘She’s So Lovely’ reached catastrophic heights and had everyone putting on their best Roy Stride accent, Scouting For Girls are heading back on the road.
This UK tour announcement comes two years after their last project, The Place We Used To Meet, reached our ears and was coined by the band as “Our best work since our debut”.
It’s been 18 years since this Brit trio captivated our hearts with their eponymous debut album, which sold over one million copies and went number one on the UK official charts for two weeks.
Whether you know them for ‘Heartbeat’ or ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’, it’s clear to say this band had their fair share of smash hit singles throughout the noughties.
This tour, however, celebrates the sophomore follow-up: Everybody Wants To Be On TV, which went on to continue their legacy and secure them their only number one, ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’, back in 2010.
Now, the boys are treating UK fans to an array of live performances, and if you can’t make one date, fear not because there are 20 different locations for you to choose from.
The group will also be playing the likes of Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and a whole host of other Northern cities, so you have plenty of chances to catch them.
If you can’t wait all the way until March 2026 for your next Scouting For Girls fix, lead singer Stride has his own cameo account where you can get the star to read out a message or even sing you a song: “‘Michaela Strachan’ in full, please?…”
Scouting For Girls are coming to O2 Apollo in Manchester on 21 March 2026, with tickets going on sale next Friday, 2 May at 10am HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
22nd July 2022 
